Leading the Blind
by Sophia Hawkins
Summary: Richie is in an accident and left blind, leaving Duncan at fault for his accident. Set in season 1, my first fic, so be nice! Please R
1. Default Chapter

Leading the Blind  
  
"Richie, are you up yet?" Tessa called outside his bedroom door.  
  
"Yeah Tess," Richie said, appearing behind Tessa, "I'm up."  
  
"You certainly have been quiet," Tessa said, "if I didn't know any better, I'd swear you were still asleep."  
  
Duncan looked up from the newspaper, Richie being too quiet for anyone to know he was awake, "Is something wrong?"  
  
"No...nothing's wrong," Richie replied.  
  
"Are you sure?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Yes," Richie responded, getting annoyed by his asking.  
  
"Well, if you say so," Duncan started.  
  
"I do," Richie returned, "what's the matter with you? Did I do something that bent my credability completely out of shape?"  
  
"No you didn't," Duncan said, "which reminds me...would you like to guess who is going to be helping me when I get my orders in today?"  
  
Richie glared at him with eyes that practically screamed: Get out of my face. Finally he said, "You're a sick man MacLeod."  
  
"It's part of my charm," Duncan returned his eyes to the paper, "or so I'm told."  
  
"You call that charm," Richie replied, "I call it-"  
  
"Watch your mouth," Duncan said, not taking his eyes off the paper, "there are ladies present."  
  
"Really? Where?" Richie jokingly looked around.  
  
Tessa took the paper from Duncan, rolled it up and tapped Richie on the head with it.  
  
"What?" Richie turned around.  
  
"I'm serious Richie," Duncan told him, "you've been here almost a month, would it kill you to watch your language?"  
  
"It might," Richie replied, "I go to my old part of town, and say to one of the local thugs 'Hello sir, lovely weather we're having', I'll get stoned to death."  
  
"Richie, are you serious?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Sure am, they pin you to a wall and throw stones at you all day. And sometimes it's worse, sometimes they throw cement blocks, and bricks as well. I'm telling ya, Mac, virtues get you nowhere except pounded six feet below," Richie said.  
  
"Richie, I think you may be over-reacting a bit," Duncan told him.  
  
"Yeah, sure, Mac," Richie replied, "if you think I'm overreacting, then why don't you go on over there and try it for yourself? Cuz I sure as hell am not going to be the Gineau pig."  
  
"Richie," Duncan warned him.  
  
"Sorry, regardless Mac, incase you forgot, I'm still getting used to being here, sometimes when I get up, for an instant, I forget I'm living with you guys," Richie told him.  
  
"And sometimes when I get up, I forget I'm not-"  
  
"Duncan!" Tessa cut him off.  
  
"What is it?" Richie asked her.  
  
"I don't know, but usually these types of conversations don't end well," Tessa said.  
  
"Look, Richie, I don't ask much from you, could you try to be nice today?" Duncan asked.  
  
Richie stared at him for a long time saying nothing, finally he turned around and left the kitchen.  
  
"What'd I say?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Nothing, nothing at all," Tessa said, leaving the room.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Richie, what're you doing?" Duncan asked as he entered the next room, and found the boy crouched down on the floor beside the table.  
  
"Trying to fix the leg on this crooked table, it keeps coming loose and everything tilts to the right," the lad replied, "trust me Mac, you don't want to set your coffee down here."  
  
Duncan got down on the floor next to Richie to observe his work, he was getting nowhere fast.  
  
"Why don't you let me take care of that, Richie?" Duncan asked.  
  
"No, I can get it, Mac," Richie refused.  
  
"Richie, that's unnecessary, I can do it," Duncan insisted.  
  
"Man, what is wrong with you?" Richie snapped, "you're always reminding me to do what I'm asked, and when I try to do something without you nagging me to do it, you don't want me doing it, why don't you make up your mind?"  
  
"I didn't know about the table until now, although I'm glad you are learning to do these things without being asked, why didn't you tell me? I could've done it," Duncan said.  
  
"Mac!" Richie complained, "What's the matter? Huh? Am I doing it wrong? Is it not how you wanted it fixed? What's the matter with you? Why is it no matter how hard I try, to you I keep screwing everything up!?"   
  
Richie wasn't one to quickly forget something, Duncan quickly found that out. Over the past few days, they'd engaged in arguments concerning Richie's responsibility around the shop. A few times, Richie had forgotten a few tasks Duncan had requested him to take care of, a few other times, Richie had tried to get the work done without being told, and it only resulted in a larger mess than the first place. To Richie, this was just another fight between the two of them, another one to mark down in his records, to Duncan, it was like an expert college course, Raising Teenagers101.  
  
Yes, Duncan knew taking in a street-savy teenager, the same one who broke into his store and told the police about he, Connor, and Slan Quince, would be a challenge. A challenge was what he had expected, but instead, it seemed like since he moved in, they were going through 20 rounds of arguing, and this one that had come up out of nowhere in the last few days was the fight to the death. Richie had been taking up a real attitude with Duncan, and he was getting tired of it, he wasn't sure where it was coming from, but he was certain it would stop soon.  
  
Duncan looked at the boy, who seemed to be on the edge of exploding at him, he just had one of those looks on his face, that every-day teenaged 'get out of my way' look. Duncan had been seeing quite a lot of that face lately, and he was getting tired of it.  
  
"Richie, I've seen a lot of you in the last month, and I've seen enough of that look on your face, now get rid of it," Duncan said in a firm voice.  
  
"How bout I do you one better?" Richie stood up, "And just get rid of myself?"  
  
The last time Richie said that, which was two days ago, he went to his room, slammed the door and locked himself in for 5 hours. As Duncan opened his mouth to say something, the boy quickly cut him off.  
  
"Oh but don't worry, I'll be around when your orders come, I wouldn't want you to think I'm incapable of doing that around here," Richie said, with both anger and hurt in his voice.  
  
Like Duncan had predicted, Richie went into his room and slammed the door.  
  
Duncan let out a long, lingering breath, and said to himself, this is going to be one of those days.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Allright Richie, get moving, the truck's here," Duncan told him.  
  
"Right," Richie said as he ran out the door.  
  
Richie ran out to the truck, signed for the packages, and started taking them in before Duncan could get out there. Richie passed by him on the way in with two heavy packages, one in each arm.  
  
"Hey Mac," Richie said.  
  
"Hey Rich-" It then hit Duncan that Richie had already passed him.  
  
For some reason, Duncan saw Richie as being a little too cocky today, and he also seemed to be a bit careless as he brought in the packages. Duncan went after Richie to make sure he didn't drop anything.  
  
"Richie, be careful with those!" Duncan warned him.  
  
"Yes Mac," Richie said, paying little attention to what he said.  
  
"Don't hold them so loose, they'll drop," Duncan added.  
  
"Yes Mac," Richie repeated.  
  
Richie took the packages into the storage room and started to set them down near the door.  
  
"Richie," Duncan followed him in, "don't set them down there, put them over here!"  
  
"Yes Mac," Richie picked up the packages again and went over to the other side of the room.  
  
Unfortunately for Richie, in an instant, one of the packages got loose and fell from the grasp of his arm and landed on Duncan's foot.  
  
"Ouch! Richie! Try to be more careful!" Duncan screamed.  
  
"Sorry, Mac," Richie bent over and picked up the package again.  
  
"You see Richie?" Duncan asked, "Do you see what happens when you get careless?"  
  
Richie shook the package and when he didn't hear anything, he set it down and tapped on it, whatever was in it was metal.  
  
"Doesn't sound like it's broken to me, I don't see what the problem is," Richie said.  
  
"You know very well what the problem is, you're still too reckless with some things," Duncan told him.  
  
Richie set the other package down on the table and turned to face Duncan, "You know what? I'm sorry Mac, I'm trying here, but apparently it isn't good enough for you. I'm sorry I'm not the ideal kid you want me to be, you come from a different time with different rules...as do I, you live by your rules, I live by mine...I'm trying to be nice here, but with all honesty, it's getting on my freakin' nerves."  
  
"That does it Richie!" Duncan exploded, "I've had it with you being so irresponsible and unappreciative around here. You can't do what you're told, you don't mind your manners around company, all you think about is yourself, what is the matter with you?!"  
  
"I have a fucking drill sergeant for a father, that's what the hell's wrong with me!" Richie defended himself.  
  
"Richie-" Duncan quickly got cut off.  
  
"And another thing, I'm not irresponsible, and I'm tired of YOU only thinking about YOURSELF around here, I didn't come to live in bootcamp, I'm leaving!" Richie said.  
  
No sooner had those words left his mouth, Richie headed out of the store, he jumped on his motorcycle and left. Tessa saw him leave and went in to speak with Duncan.  
  
"What just happened? Where's Richie going?" Tessa asked.  
  
"We just had a heated argument, I think he's being irresponsible, he thinks I'm being self-centered, so he left," Duncan said.  
  
"What!?" Tessa asked, "You mean permanently?"  
  
"I highly doubt he'll take it to that extent, he basically made the threat to take off like that...but I think once he cools down, he'll come back," Duncan said.  
  
"Then what'll you do?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Then we're going to discuss quite frankly...what the hell's been going on here that he would think I'm only thinking of myself," Duncan said.  
  
"I see," Tessa said, "and where did you get the same idea about him?"  
  
"Tess, how long has Richie been staying here?" Duncan asked her.  
  
"About a month," Tessa calmly answered.  
  
"And how long in that period of time have I been trying to teach Richie to have respect for people, and to mind his manners, especially when we have company over?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Since day one," Tessa answered.  
  
"At first, he simply refused, and I figured, 'he's not used to surroundings like these, he's not used to being around people that actually want him, give him some time to break in his welcome around here, be patient and eventually he'll come around'. For a while, I thought it was working, now all of a sudden, he's acting different, Tess," Duncan told her.  
  
"Different?" Tessa briefly laughed, "what do you mean different? Did you walk in on him trying on my dresses and high heels?"  
  
"Tessa, the boy has suddenly become ruthless, you saw him being a smart aleck earlier, it'll only get him in trouble again, and he doesn't seem to care, he only cares about himself," Duncan said.  
  
"And you find it odd he thinks the same way about you?" Tessa asked.  
  
"What're you talking about, Tess?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Duncan, you're expecting so much from Richie based on YOUR view on the world, YOUR view on how he does behave AND should behave, YOUR view of how everything goes, YOUR view of everything, is it any wonder he said you were thinking only of yourself?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Tess, I'm only thinking about what's best for him," Duncan explained to her.  
  
"Yes, but the best in whose eyes? Yours, or his?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Tessa, you should have heard what the boy was saying earlier," Duncan said.  
  
"Oh, I imagine it couldn't have been anything that awful," Tessa laughed it off, "what did he say?"  
  
"He started in again about leaving, I think somehow he's gotten the impression that we only want him here to work, earlier he was trying to fix the table and when I told him I'd do it, he snapped at me," Duncan explained.  
  
"Duncan," Tessa laughed, "that's exactly what teenagers do, it's practically their job, you've just never been around any long enough to know, they're always acting smart aleck, like they know more than us, rebellious."  
  
"Well I'm getting tired of it," Duncan told her.  
  
"Parents always do, but think about how Richie must be, his teenaged hormones are still going crazy on him, he's been abandoned by everyone and everything in his entire life, the man who takes him in and actually cares for him, is the same man who owns the antique store he broke into, and then, is also the same man who is 400 years old and battles with other Immortals, which ends with taking their heads. Now, he's trying to get adapted to living here with us, I think for his first month here, he's done a good job, and he's always trying, Duncan. Trying to please me, trying to please you, that's what he's been doing the most of aside from anything else. You can't always expect him to be perfect and never make any mistakes," Tessa said, "he is going to have his teenaged explosions now and then, you just can't take everyone as a personal attack at you.I do however, think that you have a little explaining to do when he gets back."  
  
Duncan glared at the clock, it was going on 9, he figured the lad would be back in an hour at the most...  
  
He was wrong.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"I don't believe it, 2 hours, 2 hours and he's not back yet, didn't I tell you, Tessa? Didn't I tell you he was irresponsible?!" Duncan exploded.  
  
At first, Ducnan had been waiting for Richie to return so he could explain himself, he figured Tessa was right and he had been too harsh on the lad. Now the way he saw it, he wasn't harsh enough, now Richie had to explain himself when he got back.  
  
"I don't believe it, he's never been gone this long before, do you think he's allright?" Tessa asked.  
  
"For now, yes, but when he gets back, I'll-"  
  
Duncan got cut off when the Immortal buzz struck him, he half-expected it to be Richie returning, but nevertheless, he grabbed his katana and headed to the front door as the Immortal came around, "I am Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod."  
  
"So what do I look like?" Connor asked as he stepped in the store, "The Avon lady?"  
  
Duncan sighed in relief and put his sword down.  
  
"Connor, where did you come from?" Tessa asked.  
  
"New York, where else?" Connor grinned.  
  
"I think what Tessa meant was, what are you doing here?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I was in town on business and thought I'd drop by, so what's been going on here since I left?" Connor asked.  
  
"It's a long story," Tessa said.  
  
"And we can discuss it another time, right now, Richie's been gone for the last 2 hours and I don't have any idea where the hell he is!"  
  
"Calm down, Duncan, what happened?" Connor asked.  
  
"He and Richie were arguing about something, Richie got mad and took off on his bike, we haven't seen him since," Tessa calmly explained with a hint of panic in her voice.  
  
"Well calm down, Duncan, I'm sure he's not too far off," Connor told him.  
  
"Maybe not, but he'll wish he was by the time I get through with him," Duncan said.  
  
"Duncan, what are you going to do to him?" Tessa asked, concerned about Richie's near future.  
  
"I'm just going to lay down the law around here, Tess, he can't be careless like this and not expect it to backfire at him," Duncan briefly explained.  
  
"Duncan MacLeod, I swear if you raise a hand to Richie, I'll-"  
  
Before Tessa could finish her not-so empty threat, there was a knock at the door, it was a police officer, Duncan went over and opened the door.  
  
"Can I help you?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Are you Duncan MacLeod?" he asked.  
  
"Yes I am, why?" Duncan asked, "Is something the matter?"  
  
"Just a minute," the officer went around the corner and came back with Richie caught by the back of his shirt, "this kid yours?"  
  
Richie got loose from the officer's grip and walked in a few feet, "Hi Mac."  
  
"Richie, my goodness!" Tessa ran forth and embraced the boy, "are you allright, mon petit?"  
  
"Thank you officer, I'm sorry if he caused you any trouble," Duncan said.  
  
"No trouble, in fact he's lucky I saw him when I did, I was investigating a homicide a few blocks from here, when I heard this crash, so my partner and I ran around the corner, the next thing we knew, we saw this kid lying on the pavement somewhere. So, we took him to the hospital to make sure he wasn't seriously damaged, he declared himself well enough to check out and get back here to his family. Even though the boy insisted he was fine, I decided he should have a police escort, you know, for protection," the officer explained.  
  
Duncan thought for a minute, something here was amiss, surely by now every flatfoot within a 5 mile radius would know of Richie Ryan, unless...  
  
"You're new to the police, aren't you?" Connor asked.  
  
"Yes, but what I lack in experience, I make up for in knowledge," the officer said.  
  
"Thank you for bringing him back," Duncan said, "good day, officer."  
  
Tessa let go of Richie and took a few steps back to give him some room to breathe, Duncan closed the door and waited until the officer was out of sight, then he turned to face Richie.  
  
"Richie, what is the matter with you!? How could you have been so STUPID!? Being reckless at work is one thing, but going off for TWO HOURS without an explanation!? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" Duncan yelled in Richie's ear.  
  
"Thanks a lot Mac, just what I need! First, I get yelled at here at work cuz I can't do anything right, then I go off to blow some steam, I get in an accident and you STILL yell at me! Great, just wonderful!" Richie replied.  
  
To Duncan, Richie seemed to be carrying the same attitude he left with, but to Tessa, the boy seemed on the verge of tears.  
  
"Duncan, don't yell at him, he's just been in an accident for goodness sake!" Tessa said, "Richie, are you sure you're allright?"  
  
"He was fine up till now," Duncan exploded, "That does it Richie, I'm going to-"  
  
Duncan got cut off when there was another knock at the door, it was the officer again, this time, Connor answered.  
  
"Mister MacLeod, I wouldn't go hard on the boy if I were you, it's not his fault he's blind," he said.  
  
Everyone was speechless as they went in shock, the officer left a few seconds afterwards. For several minutes, no one knew what to say, or even what to think. Finally, Tessa mustered up the strength to say something.  
  
"R--Richie," she finally said, "you're blind?"  
  
"As a bat," Richie admitted.  
  
"My God, I can't believe this," Connor said.  
  
"Hi Connor," Richie said, an odd sense of optimism remaining in his voice.  
  
"Richie, what happened?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Ah I don't know Tess, the minute I got out of here, I was mad as hell, I didn't care where I went or what happened...I just wanted to get away from here, you know, go someplace private, yell at myself, maybe break a few things, cool off and come back. Well...I was so incredibly angry, my vision was blurred for like 2 seconds, the next thing I know, I fell off my bike, and rolled down the street a few times before coming to a complete stop and hitting my head harder than when I fell off. I blacked out, when I woke up, I realized I couldn't see anything and at first panicked. Then the cops came around, I didn't say anything because I had no idea what was going on, when they told me I was in a hospital, I told the doctor I was fine and could be checked out. When the officer stopped me to offer an escort home, I told him I couldn't see, but I needed someone to be with my when I went back to the hospital, you know, to make sure they weren't screwing with something that would make my condition worse. So I gave him the address and he brought me back," Richie calmly explained.  
  
Everyone was in shock by his story, the worst part of it was that it seemed he was telling the truth. Tessa murmured a few French words and took the boy in her arms, stroking the back of his head as she fought to keep the tears from falling from her eyes. Right now, the last thing Richie needed was the people looking after him falling apart. Duncan felt awful, not only because the officer had caught him yelling at the boy, but now he was unable to see, practically helpless, and it was his fault and his fault only. Duncan had failed to show Richie his presence was appreciated around their home, now he had to make sure he got Richie the best care possible. 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I hope everyone is enjoying this story, and I would like to thank my friend Daniel for giving me the medical information recommended for this chapter. Also, I'm going add a little humor here and there, so don't go down my throat for not making it serious enough.  
  
"Richie, we're taking you back to the hospital to find out what's wrong," Tessa said.  
  
"I agree," Richie quietly said.  
  
Duncan was more worried than before, if Richie was willing to see a doctor, he must've been terrified for his dear life.  
  
"Connor, are you coming too?" Tessa turned to face him.  
  
"Yeah, I think it'd be best if I drive anyway, Duncan, are you going to help Tessa get Richie out to the car?" Connor turned to face Duncan.  
  
Duncan went over and lightly grasped the lad's arm as they headed out the door.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The entire way to the hospital, Duncan was a wreck, he couldn't get over the fact that the same boy, who he had been yelling at over 2 hours ago, was now blind. Now, Richie was helpless, the poor boy had enough trouble taking care of himself before, now he'd need someone with him practically at all times.  
  
And Duncan knew, if he needed anyone and was going to admit it, it would be either Tessa or Connor, he wouldn't dare ask Duncan for help, not after what had happened, Duncan knew that, and he couldn't blame Richie for it. Not after the way he'd exploded at him earlier, Duncan's conscience was doing a number on him, and he knew he deserved it.  
  
This is all your fault, he told himself, if you hadn't yelled at the boy, he woudln't be in this position now.  
  
Simply put, Duncan knew there was no arguing with himself, he knew it was true, if he hadn't started arguing with Richie, he wouldn't have left, he wouldn't have been so angry that he couldn't see, he never would have had his accident, and he would not be on his way to the hospital for a CAT scan.  
  
Four hours later, all the tests had been run, but before Dr. Jonathan Porter could get a chance to explain, Tessa took offence at their lack of medical practice.  
  
"This makes no sense, whatsoever, if the boy was blind when he arrived here, how could you have let him leave in such a simple manner?" Tessa asked, "Surely you have some obligations when it comes to performing these tests when the patients arrive."  
  
"And we do, Miss Noel," Dr. Porter said, "but I didn't see to your son when he was first brought in here. That would be Dave Myers, he's not exactly new to the medical profession, however-"  
  
"However what?" Duncan asked, worried he would regret the answer.  
  
"Look, Mister MacLeod, I'm going to be honest with you, Dr. David Myers has been hired into and fired from 11 different hospitals, all for different reasons, he's tried different positions in the medical profession, lately he's been seeing to the care of blind people. However, his medical care in blindness, much like every other profession prior to it, has had many flaws."  
  
"You're saying that the reason he got out of here the first time was because of a-"   
  
"Completely screwed physician?" Dr. Porter cut Tessa off, "Yes. He proves to have had very little practice, he's seen to 3 people with decreased vision today, he only bothered with a few simple tests that we believe your son could've easily passed from a few given hints, and when he appeared to have passed them. He just let him go."  
  
"Tests, which tests?" Connor asked, "How could he have passed them so easily?"  
  
"They're really very simple, Mister MacLeod, for example, every person with decreased vision who has been in here, is started off with a simple test such as having their eyes follow the doctor's hand, the draft in here could easily have given away the solution to that. Maybe or maybe not fortunately, depending on the case, we were alerted of Dr. Myers' true medical practices and - he left not long after your son was dismissed," Dr. Porter said, "but, after giving him the proper tests, I've come to one simple conclusion."  
  
"What is it?" Tessa asked.  
  
"During his fall, he sustained a concussion, which bruised the brain in the vision section," he explained.  
  
"Is it permanent?" Tessa asked.  
  
"No, not at all, and I don't think surgery will be needed, but it will depend on how his condition changes if any in the next few weeks," Dr. Porter said.  
  
"How long will it last?" Duncan asked.  
  
"That will depend on how hard he actually hit his head, unfortunately it would depend on how fast he was going when he fell, how hard the road was when he rolled down it, and how hard the pavement was when he stopped. And unfortunately, that cannot be determined to exact figures, but the way I see it, it's obvious he took a hard fall, and I'd say that he's lucky that he's only blind," Dr. Porter said.  
  
"What?!" Tessa, Connor and Duncan asked.  
  
"I have seen patients in the same situations, and some were brought in with brain damage, internal bleeding in the brain, and others didn't turn out as lucky," Dr. Porter explained.  
  
"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Tessa said.  
  
"I can't believe we're still here," Richie finally said, "doc, is there anything else you need to do with me?"  
  
"I'm afraid there's nothing more I can do, so you can take him home and just keep an eye on him....when his condition starts to improve, he'll be able to see, but his entire vision will be blurred, so if there are any changes, let me know," Dr. Porter said.  
  
Tessa took Richie by one arm, and Connor by the other as they led him out of the room.  
  
"Are you allright, Richie?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Terrific, I've just spent 4 hours in a strange place that I can't see, the last doctor who saw to me was obviously completely fucked in the brain, and as far as I know, this place is probably filled with stuff I DON'T want to even know about," Richie said, his sarcasm wearing thin.  
  
"Don't worry about it," Connor said as he mussed the boy's hair, "I've seen plenty of disgusting things in my time, this place looks like Martha Stewart decorated it compared to some of the sights I could tell you about."  
  
The humor wore thin as they headed out of the hospital, Tessa on one side of Richie, Connor on the other, and Duncan remaining a few steps behind all of them. The shock still lingered in his mind, in a way, he himself felt helpless. He was positive Richie wouldn't trust being around him while he was blind, and if he couldn't trust him, he wouldn't be able to help the lad. Right now, Duncan felt as vulnerable as Richie seemed to be.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Connor drove them home, he knew that Duncan's nerves were shot and he was in no condition to be driving what seemed to be a family of 4 during hectic traffic and bad weather. A storm had started up out of nowhere not long after they left the hospital. The last thing they needed was to get caught in the storm and end up getting run off the road because of it.  
  
Duncan couldn't stop looking at Richie, they had left the hospital half an hour ago, and Richie hadn't said anything. Duncan wasn't about to say anything either, he didn't want Richie to think he was picking another fight with him. He couldn't get out of his mind the last thing he had said to Richie. He hadn't tried to be of any help to the boy, he didn't say he was sorry for his accident. He was threatening Richie, threatening to punish him, the last thing Richie had heard him say to him was senseless yelling about his irresponsibilities when Duncan was the one to blame.   
  
He should have known there was something wrong with the lad when he hadn't returned, but instead, he was just waiting for him to return so he could punish Richie for his behavior. At the time, in addition to that, another thought had crossed his mind as to why Richie was still gone. It was a faint idea in the back of his head, but as his absence reached the 2 hour mark, he started figuring that perhaps he feared getting beaten when he returned. Duncan wouldn't have beaten him, but he knew all too well it would have been close.  
  
Finally, Tessa broke the silence, "Richie, are you allright? You haven't said 2 words since we left the hospital."  
  
"I'm fine, Tess, it's just that I'm still in shock myself to find I can't see anything, I never figured I'd be in a mess like this."  
  
"Look on the bright side, it's not permanent, surgery won't be required, and as you heard," Connor told him, "you got off lucky compared to some people in your position."  
  
"I know, I know," Richie murmured, "well, I guess it could be worse. After all, right about now, I could be in a steel drawer somewhere with a sheet thrown over me, and a tag on my toe."  
  
"Richie, I do wish you wouldn't talk like that," Tessa said, "even if it is true, it doesn't help the situation much."  
  
Truth was, as shocked and upset everybody was, they were relieved Richie would turn out allright eventually, however, everyone knew that the true delimma had just begun.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Easy, easy, this way," Connor signaled Richie, who had both he and Tessa leading him into the shop, "careful Richie, careful."  
  
Richie got a few feet in past the front door and stopped, "I'm a blind person, Connor, not a 747 trying to land in Chicago."  
  
"At least you still have your sense of humor," Connor said, "you may need it to help get you through the next few days."  
  
"Days?" Richie repeated, "try weeks, months even, Connor, we don't know how long my condition will last, it may even be years. I know you guys don't want or need to put up with me if it'll be that long-"  
  
"You're staying right here with us," Tessa told him, "That was the deal when you moved in, that is the deal now. Consider it like marriage, through good and bad, sickness and health, you're staying with us."  
  
"Really?" Richie's voice sounded only half-convinced.  
  
"Yes, you have our word, you're going to stay with us, and we're going to help you until you can see again," Tessa assured him, "is there anything you need right now?"  
  
"Na," Richie answered, "although--"  
  
"What is it?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Never mind, I'm going upstairs to my room," Richie asked, "I'm tired and just want to lay down."  
  
"What?" Tessa laughed, "Oh no you don't, you are not going to try to get upstairs by yourself, I'll help you."  
  
"Come on Tess, I can do it myself," Richie argued.  
  
"Maybe, but you're going to have to get adjusted to being like this first before you try to convince me of that, I'm going with you," Tessa told him.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Of course," Tessa took Richie's arm in hers, "follow me, and take it nice and slow."  
  
"Nice and slow, yes I remember, that's the exact thing they told me when I walked a line for a sobriety test."  
  
"Oh really?" Tessa slightly laughed.   
  
She figured perhaps if she could get Richie to talk about something other than his current condition, perhaps it would liven him up a bit and make the fact he couldn't see, a little less painful for him.  
  
"Yeah, I swear, Tess, these guys must've worked at the circus at some point. There's nothing I hate more than clown cops, they had me walk a 15-foot line, and they said: 'nice and slow', so I wouldn't stumble through it too quickly. Worst 45 minutes of my life," Richie said.  
  
No one could resist laughing at Richie's response. For an instant, it seemed to liven up the atmosphere. As Tessa helped the boy up to his room, Connor went over to Duncan, who had seated himself across the room with his head in his hands, staring at the floor.  
  
"Is there something you'd like to tell me?" Connor asked.  
  
"He could've been killed, Connor," Duncan replied, continuing to stare at the floor.  
  
"But he wasn't, and now he's back here with all the help he could ask for," Connor replied.  
  
"Connor, you don't know what happened before he came back, I was horrible to him," Duncan said.  
  
"Oh really?" Connor pulled up a chair and rested against the back of it, "I can't imagine you'd do anything too horrible to him."  
  
"Connor, I-----you weren't here, you didn't see what happened, you didn't hear me say he was irresponsible, unappreciative, practically useless, I told him he was only thinking of himself, and look where it got him," Duncan said, "blind and helpless for God only knows how long."  
  
"You didn't know," Connor told him, "you didn't know he'd take off, you didn't know he'd get himself in an accident, you're not to blame here."  
  
"Yes I am and don't try to tell me otherwise!" Duncan exploded, "If I hadn't opened my mouth, he never would have left, he wouldn't have been so angry that he couldn't see, and he never would have fallen off his bike and hit his head, leaving him blind!"  
  
Duncan lowered his head and held his forehead in his palms as tears fell from his eyes and down his face, "Oh..." he moaned, "I'm an ass!"  
  
"You're a huge ass, Duncan," Connor said, "but right now, the lad needs our help, and that includes you."  
  
"He's not going to want me helping him, I'm the reason he's blind in the first place, and he knows it," Duncan said.  
  
"Duncan, I have been standing right next to you ever since he first got back, never did he say anything about you being responsible for anything," Connor said.  
  
"Maybe not, but you know that's exactly what he's thinking," Duncan said, "and, and I can't blame him."  
  
"You can feel sorry for yourself all you want," Connor told him, "right now, there is a helpless, scared, 17-year-old upstairs, wondering when he's going to see again. He needs our help more than anything right now, that includes you."  
  
Connor headed upstairs to see how Richie was, Tessa had just gotten him down on his bed and seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep.  
  
"How are you, laddie?" Connor asked.  
  
"Fine, Connor," Richie murmured, "just fine, considering."  
  
"Richie," Tessa cut in, "I've decided that it would be best if one of us stays with you at all time to make sure you'll be okay."  
  
"Sounds great, Tess, just great," Richie moaned, "you mean like guard duty?"  
  
"In a way, I'll take the first watch, Connor can take the second, and Duncan can take the next. Which reminds me Connor, I know you're only in town for a short while, but I think Duncan and I could use quite a bit of help right now," Tessa started.  
  
"Say no more, I'll be glad to stay, besides, the way I see it, it's a job that requires three people anyway," Connor said.  
  
"Well, now that that's settled, is there anything I can get you, Richie?" Tessa asked.  
  
"No, I'm fine - I'm just tired," Richie murmured.  
  
A few minutes later, the boy fell asleep, Connor asked to see Tessa in the next room, and then insisted that he'd watch him while she talked with Duncan.  
  
"How is he taking this?" Tessa asked.  
  
"That's something I think you best find out for yourself, now go on, I'll watch the laddie," Connor told her.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Duncan hadn't gotten up from the chair, and just continued to stare at the floor and kick himself for what had happened.  
  
How could I have been so foolish? Duncan pondered, I should have known when he didn't return that something was wrong, what the hell could I have been thinking that would block out the obvious from my mind?  
  
It was then that Duncan realized Tessa was in the room, she walked over to him and pulled up a chair. Duncan looked up at her and asked, "how is he?"  
  
"He's asleep right now, Connor's watching him, as a matter of fact, I think it would be best if we took turns watching him throughout the day, you know, to make sure he's allright, he doesn't try doing something for himself and end up getting hurt," Tessa explained.  
  
"Okay," Duncan agreed.  
  
"Duncan, how are you holding up?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I don't know, Tess, I'm worried, I'm also afraid," Duncan said.  
  
"Of what? Richie will be fine, Dr. Porter said he's going to get his eyesight back, he just doesn't know how long," Tessa told him.  
  
"Yeah, I know, it could be weeks or months, maybe even years," Duncan said.  
  
"So what are you saying?" Tessa asked, "Do you think we need to send him to someone else who can look after him? Is that what you're saying?"  
  
"That's not what I'm saying!" Duncan disagreed, "Tess...the boy needs help, I just don't know if I can help him."  
  
"Why is that?" Tessa asked, "You haven't even said anything to him since you found out about his accident."  
  
"Exactly, Tess, he wouldn't be in this mess right now if I hadn't yelled at him, if I didn't even have enough patience to put up with his outburst, what guarantee is there that I can be of any help now?"  
  
"Surely you must have known a few blind people in your time," Tessa said.  
  
"Some, most of them never recovered," Duncan said.  
  
"Is that what you're worried about with Richie?" Tessa asked.  
  
"No, I know he's going to be allright, it's just-"  
  
"Just what?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Tess, I don't know what to do, I don't know how to help Richie, I don't know if he's even going to want my help, he knows what I know," Duncan said.  
  
"And what do you know?"  
  
"I know that it's my falt he can't see, and I know that that's the reason he's depending on you and Connor to help him, not me," Duncan said.  
  
"You don't know that, Duncan," Tessa said.  
  
"I know it, Tess, he hasn't said anything to me since I found out about his accident. -Did you see him when he first came back?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Yes, he acted as everything were normal, he walked in and acted just as he could see," Tessa said, "we didn't know anything was wrong until he came back."  
  
"Then he went silent on us," Duncan remembered, "I guess, once the secret was out, he must have figured there was no sense in trying to convince us of anything after that."  
  
"Duncan, you know that's not true, Richie knew that he couldn't see, that's why he allowed that officer to bring him back, that's why he let you yell at him, and he didn't want us to take pity on him when he first got back, that's why he pretended he could see," Tessa realized, "if that officer hadn't told us, we probably wouldn't have found out."  
  
"Exactly, and then what? How long would it have been before he finally told us he couldn't see? What would it take? Would we have had to ask him to help with dinner before he told us? He wouldn't know what to do, he probably would've wound up cutting himself with one of the knives. Then he probably would've told us, I - I just can't believe this, how could this be happening?"   
  
"Duncan, you can't keep blaming yourself, this could just have easily have happened if he had been careless for one second on his bike, then we'd still be in the same situation," Tessa told him.  
  
"I wish I could believe that," Duncan said.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"I wish I had known you were coming, otherwise I probably wouldn't have ran out of here until tonight, and I'd probably still be able to see," Richie said.  
  
"Well, Duncan didn't know himself until I had showed up, I decided to drop in on all of you and surprise you," Connor told him.  
  
"I'm surprised," Richie said, "I had been hoping you'd drop by, things have gotten real predictable and boring around here, I figured, if you showed up, and you and Mac got in an argument and tried duking it out, that'd spice things up."  
  
"It probably would've," Connor laughed, "who knows? I might stick around for that, too."  
  
"Are you serious? You're staying here?" Richie asked.  
  
"Of course."  
  
"How long?"   
  
"At least until you recover."  
  
Had Richie heard right? He started to sit up in the bed and was only able to raise himself from the chest up. "What did you say?"  
  
"I'm going to stay until you can see again."  
  
"Are you serious?"  
  
"Personally, I don't see why not, laddie, what've I to lose?" Connor asked.  
  
"Depending on my type of condition," Richie mumbled, "I'd say close to a year probably."  
  
"So what? I've been around for well over 400 years, one more of seeing Duncan's sorry face shouldn't matter," Connor said.  
  
"You two don't get along well, do you?" Richie asked.  
  
"Oh, let's say we've had our different opinions of one another before, like the first time we met, I'll never forget it, but that's a story for another time," Connor said, "I'll say this, Duncan has a history of being quite a colorful character."  
  
"Man, how is he taking it?" Richie asked.  
  
"Not as well as you apparently, I'm afraid," Connor said, "he seems to think he's the cause of this."  
  
"How?" Richie asked.  
  
"Well, the way he sees it is if he hadn't yelled at you for whatever reason he did, you wouldn't have left, and gotten in the accident," Connor explained.  
  
"Putting it that way, I guess there's a chance of it," Richie said.  
  
Off in a distance, Richie listened to the howling winds and the thunder, he could only imagine how bright the lightning was and how much it was raining. He wondered how long the storm would last. But it really didn't matter to him, as far as he was concerned, he could stay in bed for the rest of his days as a blind person. He didn't know why, but since his accident, he felt exhausted, nervous, and numb. He had no idea what he was going to do with the rest of his life, and for some reason, he didn't seem to care about anything that happened anymore. No, that wasn't true, he was just talking himself into believing it, hoping the idea would make some of the pain go away. Finally, Connor broke the silence between them with a direct question, he wanted to get straight to the point about something.  
  
"What do you think?" Connor asked.  
  
"About what?" Richie asked.  
  
"Do you think it was Duncan's fault?" Connor asked him.  
  
"I don't know," Richie sighed, "at the time - there was so much stuff going through my mind, and then---then I land flat on the pavement."  
  
"Exactly what was going through your mind at the time?" Connor asked.  
  
"Oh, only everything I could think of at the time," Richie responded, "how could I always be such a burden for Mac? Why did he even bother putting up with me? What could I do without screwing it up? If I get the boot here, where am I gonna go? Why does he always have to yell at me every time I screw up? What do you think, Connor? Am I expecting too much from Mac for him to put up with me?"   
  
"It's not too much to expect, in fact I think it's not enough to expect from him," Connor told him.  
  
"Why? You should have heard us arguing earlier, we couldn't get along to save our lives," Richie said.  
  
"Bite your tongue, laddie, Duncan is willing to do far more than just put up with you, he loves you and he cares about you, otherwise he wouldn't have taken you in," Connor said.  
  
"You think so?" Richie asked.  
  
"I know so, as a matter of fact-"  
  
"What is it?" Richie asked.  
  
Connor opened the door to see Duncan and Tessa.  
  
"If everything allright up here, Connor? We thought we heard something," Duncan said.  
  
"The lad just woke up and felt like talking to someone is all," Connor said.  
  
Tessa went over to Richie's bedside, "how are you feeling, mon petit?"  
  
"Tired, but I can't sleep," Richie groaned.  
  
"Are you hungry?" Tessa asked.  
  
"No."  
  
"If you need anything, just say so," Tessa told him.  
  
"I will."  
  
"Pauvre petit," Tessa said as she left the room.  
  
"Connor," Duncan said, "I - I'll get you when dinner's ready, and I'll take over watching Richie."  
  
Connor got up from his seat near Richie's bed and headed over to Duncan, "I'm passing on dinner, but I think you should watch him, he won't admit it, but he needs you," Connor told him.  
  
"Can you be sure of that?" Duncan asked.  
  
Right now, Duncan wasn't sure Richie needed him at all, but Duncan was more certain Richie didn't want to be around him at all. 


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I apologize for sounding rude, it's just that I've seen some people leave reviews complaining that the story wasn't taken seriously enough when a little humor was set in to lighten the mood, and I didn't want the same thing being said about this story.   
  
Richie woke up and found it was still impossible for him to see. He had heard that blindness in a case like his could last anywhere from a few minutes to several months. He just hoped that his vision would clear up soon. Richie realized something was wrong, everything was quiet, all he heard was the same storm that had started up after they left the hospital. For all he knew, it probably continued all night, he had no idea what time it was, but he had been asleep for so long, he could've sworn it was morning by now. Richie soon found reason to panic again, he had no idea where he was, the bed he was on didn't feel familiar to him, and he was close to the edge of it. Worried that he was in someplace different from when he went to sleep, he felt along it trying to figure out where he was, but he got too close to the edge and fell on the floor.   
  
"Narrow bed, I always hated them," Richie laughed to himself.  
  
Richie heard the lightswitch click and then someone walk over to him, he was strangely relieved when he heard that female voice in a motherly tone.  
  
"Richie, my goodness, what have you gotten yourself into now?"  
  
"Where am I?" Richie gasped.  
  
"Calm down, you're in your bedroom, exactly where you were when you went to sleep, except you're on the floor, and guessing from your position, I'd say you were sleeping at the foot of your bed," Tessa realized.  
  
"The foot? Man, what did I do?" Richie asked himself as he felt his way back into bed and to the head of it and buried his face in the pillows.  
  
"I don't know, but I must admit I've seen you do worse, remember the time you were sleeping on the edge of the bed and the sheet snapped on the other end and you fell out?" Tessa reminded him.  
  
"Yep, for the rest of the day, I had two bruised cheeks, unfortunately they weren't in the same area," Richie laughed.  
  
"Yes I remember, the whole day you had to sit on a pillow."  
  
"Tess."  
  
"Yes, Richie?"  
  
"What time is it?"  
  
"2 o' clock."  
  
"In the morning?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I'm sorry Tess, it's just - I didn't know where I was and I just -"  
  
"Calm down, it's allright," Tessa told him, "why don't you try to get back to sleep?"  
  
"I can't---I don't even remember when I went to sleep," Richie said.  
  
"That would have been close to 6 o' clock," Tessa answered.  
  
"Well that would explain why I'm not tired," Richie lifted the corners of his mouth, "so Tess, how are you?"  
  
"Oh, I'm doing okay, considering--"  
  
"And Connor?"  
  
"Connor's staying downstairs until the next watch, so-"  
  
Tessa was concerned when she realized Richie didn't ask how Duncan was doing.  
  
"And Duncan is worried about you more than I think you are yourself," Tessa told him.  
  
"Really?" Richie asked.  
  
"Yes, he's really worried about you," Tessa sat down at the foot of the bed.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Why?" Tessa repeated, "Richie, you have to think more of Duncan than that."  
  
"I do, I'm just not sure he thinks the same way about me," Richie said.  
  
"What is that supposed to mean?" Tessa asked.  
  
"It means, the instant I found out I was blind, I wasn't worried about how I was going to get back here, no, I knew a few ways that would get me back here regardless. The first thing going through my mind was, 'how am I going to explain this to Mac?' and I figured, the best way would be not to tell him," Richie said, sounding a bit cocky.  
  
"And you were just going to stumble around here blind as a bat? Richie, don't you know how dangerous that is?" Tessa asked.  
  
"The last thing I wanted was you feeling sorry for me, and him yelling at me even more for being reckless," Richie said.  
  
"Richie, Duncan is not mad at you," Tessa told him, "he's worried about you."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Good," Richie smirked, "I'm glad."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I figure I shouldn't be the only one upset over this," Richie said.  
  
"Richie, we're all upset!" Tessa told him.  
  
"Yeah, but you're not responsible for it," Richie said.  
  
"You think Duncan is?"  
  
"No, but he could be a little more helpful with this," Richie said.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Duncan and Connor were staying downstairs when Tessa took over her watch, they both awoke when they heard the noise from upstairs, Connor had gone up to see what it was, and he returned downstairs to Duncan.  
  
"What is it?" Duncan asked.  
  
"The lad woke up and was confused about where he was, Tessa's talking with him," Connor explained, "how are you holding up?"  
  
"Awful," was the only word Duncan said.  
  
"You're not still kicking yourself for this are you?" Connor asked.  
  
"Oh God, Connor, why? Why did I have to yell at him today? Why?" Duncan buried his face in his hands.  
  
"Because, as you were putting it, he was being a pain in the neck," Connor sat down next to him.  
  
"No he wasn't, he was just being a 17-year-old who has no clue what's happening in his life. I should have known by now that I can't expect him to always say what I want to hear, I can't expect him to always do as I expect. He's going to have his mistakes, I can't expect him to be flawless, but I do, why? Why do I always expect so much from him?"  
  
"Because," Connor pulled Duncan close in a brotherly embrace, "You know what can be expected of him IS flawless, but it's not what SHOULD be expected from the lad. What should be expected is general support, let him know that you're allright with his decisions, Duncan, there is a difference between being supportive and being demanding. And besides that, you expect so much from him because everyone has always expected so much from you that you remember the demand so well."  
  
"I don't know what I'm going to do, Connor, I can barely even stand to be near Richie, how am I supposed to talk to him?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I suggest you take the next watch on the lad when he's awake, maybe then you can break the ice between the two of you," Connor told him.  
  
"What do I say?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Tell him you're sorry he can't see, tell him you want to help him, say something to the lad, Duncan, if you keep avoiding him, it'll only make this worse for the both of you than it already is, is that what you want?" Connor asked.  
  
"You know that isn't what I want, Connor," Duncan said.  
  
"Then prove it," Connor said, "let the boy know that you're here to help him, and you're going to support him now, when he can see again, and then - if you see the lad settling for less than what's good for him, let him know. You can't force him to do anything, but you can help keep him from settling for less than what's good for him, and making a mess of it."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Richie, it's not good for you to stay in bed all day," Tessa told him.  
  
"I know, but I'm exhausted," Richie said.  
  
"That's because you stayed up all night," she reminded him.  
  
"I told you, after 8 hours of sleep, I wasn't tired," Richie said.  
  
"Richie, I'm going to say something, not to make you feel guilty, but because I think you need to hear it," Tessa said.  
  
"I'm listening," Richie moaned.  
  
"I think you're just feeling sorry for yourself, and you find staying in bed to be the way to escape it," Tessa said.  
  
"Let's face it Tess, I'm not exactly going to be of any help to you guys until I can see again, so where else am I gonna stay while I wait for that to happen?" Richie asked.  
  
"I'm not saying you need to do anything, other than act alive," Tessa said.  
  
"Well," Richie slowly sat up, "it's going to be pretty damn hard to do that when I can't even see what I'm doing."  
  
"Richie, you need to get adapted to your surroundings, when you left the hospital, how did you get out?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I don't know, I just felt along the side until I met up with the cop again," Richie said.  
  
"Exactly, feel along everything around here to get used to it, it'll be very helpful," Tessa said.  
  
"Well I guess you got that right, seeing as how I'm probably not going to be seeing anything anytime soon," Richie said.  
  
"Richie-"  
  
"Don't get your girdle in a bundle, Tess, I'll try," Richie said.  
  
He felt his way along the edge of his bed and slowly slipped out of it, then he moved the pillows and started putting the sheets back into place.  
  
"What are you doing?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Making my bed, after all, just 'cause I'm blind doesn't mean I get to slack off on everything, right?"   
  
"You're unable to see, but still willing to make your bed?" Tessa asked, "I miss you, Richie."  
  
"I haven't gone anywhere, Tess, I've just gone through some changes since my accident," Richie said.  
  
"I know, I miss the you before the change," Tessa said.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"They're coming down, Duncan, remember what I told you, you have to say something to the lad," Connor said.  
  
"Oh God, Connor, I haven't been this nervous in years," Duncan said.  
  
"I don't know why you should be, you've been around the lad before, just remember, I told you to break the ice between you two, don't melt it," Connor reminded him.  
  
"Right," Duncan murmured.  
  
Tessa slowly came down the stairs with her hand gently grasped to Richie's arm as she helped him down.  
  
"Good morning Duncan, Connor."  
  
"Morning, Tess," Duncan replied.  
  
"So laddie, how are you today?" Connor asked.  
  
"Tired, dizzy, and completely clueless as to why I even got out of bed this morning, all in all, I'm okay," Richie said.  
  
"Richie-"  
  
"I know Tess, I have to get adapted to my surroundings as a blind person, feel along everything so I'll know where I'm going."  
  
"It'll help you get around until you can see again," Tessa said.  
  
"And that's exactly what I'm going to do starting now." Richie started feeling to the right of him and felt along Tessa's blouse, "Oh excuse me," Richie turned to the left and felt his way over to Connor, "Sorry," then he felt his way over to the left a little further and felt across Duncan, "Excuse me, miss."  
  
They found Richie's last comment as quite humorous, Tessa and Connor immediately broke out laughing, whereas it took Duncan a couple of seconds to see the humor in it, and he too couldn't resist letting out a slight guffaw.  
  
"At least you still have your sense of humor, laddie," Connor told him.  
  
"I should hope so, right now it's one of the few things that keeps me going," Richie said.  
  
Duncan was trying to say something to Richie, but he realized he was too scared to say anything, but Connor was right, if he kept putting it off, it would only make things worse between them.   
  
Just as he was about to open his mouth, Richie started feeling his way back across the room, and again, he felt his way across Duncan.  
  
"Pardon me, ma'am," Richie said, "Tessa, do you mind if we head back upstairs?"  
  
"Of course, follow me," Tessa took Richie by the arm and led him to the stairwell again.  
  
Connor waited until they were back upstairs, then he went over to Duncan, "Why didn't you say anything?"  
  
"I tried, Connor, I was about to say something, but then - my mind went blank," Duncan confessed.  
  
"What do you mean your mind went blank?"  
  
"Everything I was going to say, I just forgot it and froze," Duncan said.  
  
"Duncan, what you have is a case of the nerves," Connor told him, "what are you so damn afraid of?"  
  
"I don't know, maybe I'm just afraid of what he'll say in return, and maybe not, all I know is when I try to say something to him, I freeze, it's like clock work. I couldn't say anything to him yesterday afternoon when I saw him, I couldn't say anything last night when I was watching him, and I can't say anything to him today. Have you ever seen someone with a case of nerves like this before?" Duncan asked.  
  
"No," Connor answered, "but I have seen a few come close, and most of it was for nothing."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Richie had decided to change into some clean clothes, for that, he asked Tessa to leave the room, so she went into her bedroom and continued speaking to Richie from there.  
  
"Richie, maybe you just need to try talking to him, and see what he says," Tessa suggested.  
  
"No thanks, I've heard quite enough from him," Richie replied as he pulled some clean clothes out of his closet.  
  
"Richie, you haven't said anything to him since yesterday, don't you think by now he has something he wants to say to you?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I'm sure he does, and I'm sure I know what it is too-- 'you idiot, why can't you ever do anything right?' 'What the hell is the matter with you? You stupid, lazy, retarded, disrespectful-' You know, the basics," Richie said.  
  
"Richie, he wouldn't say that and you know it," Tessa said.  
  
"Do I?" Richie asked, "C'mon, Tess, we're all adults here - well, more or less, Mac is not going to be happy with this, and he is not going to want to help me while I'm blind."  
  
"Richie, you know that's not true, he ONLY wants to help," Tessa told him.  
  
"Then why hasn't he?" Richie asked, "I might not be able to see, but I know that he hasn't offered to help me since we went to the hospital."  
  
"Richie, he's worried about you, I know, I've seen him, he's terrified for you," Tessa said.  
  
"Can you be sure of that?" Richie asked as he removed his shirt.  
  
"What do you mean?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Once when I was about 15, I was staying in a foster home, I thought I had it made, nice parents, or so they seemed, 2 story home, over a century old and in classic condition. A yard large enough to put a football field in, swimming pool on the side, bench press in the garage, and I figure--- I'm in paradise. Then I met the siblings, 2 16-year-old boys, a 12-year-old daughter, and a 9-year-old boy, the younger ones I didn't have a problem with, but one of the older ones- he---took a baseball bat one day and beat me in the back of the head with it. I fell down and hit the asphalt, then the parents came out, they asked the kids what was wrong with me, they said they didn't know. They took me inside and laid me on the couch, for about 20 minutes I couldn't see anything straight, everything was blurry, worse than when they electronically scramble someone's face on TV. Anyway, the old man sounded concerned, kept praying I'd recover, and when he did----he took his belt to me for being careless and falling," Richie explained.  
  
"Why would he think you were careless if he didn't know what happened?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Well, let's just say those athletic bastards make a habit out of changing their stories around, and the old man believed them, they said I had been acting like a complete idiot, out of nowhere I tripped and fell, bashing my head on the ground," Richie answered.  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that," Tessa said, "but Duncan isn't like that, he would never do anything even of that nature."  
  
"Can you be sure?" Richie asked, "Let's face facts, Tess, you don't look like you've ever been in my position before."  
  
"Your position?"   
  
"Yeah, you have a few rough breaks, and immediately, the whole world is ready to condemn you. They just---take one look at you, and think; smartass kid, no manners, no respect for anyone, they never appreciate anything you ever do for them. And it's not just the classy people who think like that, once you've been labelled like that, even the thugs and gangs think about you like that, everyone's got it in for you, your father never would've beaten you, would he?"   
  
"No he would not."  
  
"Exactly, and how long have you known Mac?"  
  
"12 years, that's certainly long enough to know him, Richie," Tessa said.  
  
"True," Richie said as he slipped into another pair of jeans, "but---you two never had kids, you don't know how he would act around one like me, that that totally screwed up at every task given to him."  
  
"Maybe not, but he would never hit a kid," Tessa went into his room.  
  
"Can you guarantee that?" Richie asked.  
  
"Richie, I have a pretty good idea of what Duncan is like, and----for argument sake, should I be wrong, I will see to it that he doesn't lay a hand on you, are you convinced now that nothing's going to happen to you?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I guess," Richie sighed, "I certainly know YOU would never hit a kid, no matter how much he had it coming to him."  
  
Tessa then realized that Richie had gotten his shirt on backwards when he was getting dressed, she couldn't resist laughing even though it wasn't all that humorous.  
  
"What is it?" Richie asked.  
  
Tessa laughed a bit louder and rested her head on Richie's shoulder, "Richie, you've certainly proved you're not helpless, but you still could use a little help when it comes to getting dressed."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Take your arms in, your shirt's on backwards," Tessa said.  
  
"Hey, just be glad I didn't put on one that was inside-out," Richie snapped as he took his arms in his shirt and out of the sleeves.  
  
Tessa grabbed the shirt and turned it around, Richie put his arms back in the sleeves, "There, how's that?"  
  
"Perfect, come on," Tessa took the boy by the arm.  
  
"Where're we going?" Richie asked.  
  
"To get started on breakfast, by now you must be starving," Tessa said.  
  
I must be if I'm willing to eat your cooking, Richie said to himself. 


	4. Chapter 4

Tessa had called Duncan and Connor when breakfast was ready, on their way to the kitchen, Connor reminded Duncan again that soon he would have to speak with Richie. When they went in, they saw him standing near the table, grinning.  
  
"What's he grinning about?" Duncan whispered to Connor.  
  
"Ask him."  
  
Finally, Duncan mustered up the nerve and opened his mouth, "How are you, Richie?"  
  
"Starving," Richie replied, "I'm waiting on breakfast."  
  
"What's cooking?" Connor asked as he inhaled a not-so-delightful scent.  
  
"Hotcakes, bacon, French toast, ham and eggs, and all I have to do is stand around, looking 'perty," Richie laughed.  
  
Duncan thought it was a miracle they got this far without an argument, he walked over to the lad and asked him, "Do you need some help getting to your chair?"  
  
"Na, I know where it is, right here," Richie picked up the chair next to him.  
  
"Allright boys, come and get it before it burns," Tessa said as she took a plate full of hot food over to Richie's place at the table, "enjoy, Richie."  
  
"I'll try," Richie replied.  
  
Richie took his seat, picked up his knife and fork and started cutting into the eggs, after a mouthful, he expressed an odd grimace.  
  
"What's the matter?" Duncan asked, "undercooked?"  
  
"Needs salt," Richie replied.  
  
Richie put down his fork and felt across the table, he picked up the pepper shaker, brought it to his nose and inhaled, he made an even weirder face, put it down, and picked up the salt shaker, brought it up to his nose, inhaled, and then poured it on his eggs.  
  
"So," Tessa finally said, "what do you two have planned today?"  
  
"Well you know Duncan's going to be running the shop, and I figured I'd stay upstairs and help you with the lad," Connor said.  
  
"We appreciate everything you're doing, Connor," Tessa said.  
  
"Don't mention it, Tessa, I'm happy to help, besides, the boy's practically family, family you're willing to do anything for, that's what I decided a long time ago, and that's that," Connor said. When he said that, Connor meant to plunge his fork into the ham chop on his plate, but instead he plunged it into the back of Duncan's hand.  
  
"OUUUCCCH!" Duncan screamed. He automatically picked his hand up off the table and examined the marks in it, which were already getting bloody, "Connor! Try to be more careful!"  
  
"Sorry Duncan, I guess after 474 years, my sense of direction just isn't what it used to be," Connor laughed.  
  
"How bad is it?" Richie asked.  
  
"What?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Your hand, how bad is it?" Richie asked, "if he stuck you as hard as I think he did, by now it has to be bleeding, Mac."  
  
Duncan took another glance at his hand, blood had reached the surface, then he looked back at the lad across the table, "It is, how did you know?"  
  
"Let's just say, been there, done that, had a few stitches, cussed out a few people, it's nothing new," Richie said.  
  
"I'm sorry," Duncan murmured.  
  
"Well it's not like you would've known anyway, it was about----six years ago, another---family dispute," Richie said.  
  
"I can't believe that something like that could happen, and nobody would do anything," Tessa said.  
  
"Well, it was just foster care, Tess, they don't really put any meaning into it, it's just so they can look like saints around the neighbors," Richie told her.  
  
No one said anything after Richie's comment, no one knew what to say. It seemed Richie's life had more twists and turns in the truth than it had seemed before. They all knew, someone looked at Richie and immediately figured, smartass kid, past unknown and not worth knowing, wouldn't appreciate anything you did for him. Apparently there was another part to it than just that. Duncan and Tessa had taken in a scared, isolated teenager, and they got to know him, which was something they enjoyed. Every day they came to learn something new about the lad, and that was something that wouldn't end anytime soon. Duncan didn't want it to end, he didn't want to stop communicating with Richie, learning about his past, his interests, his life. But he knew it would end if he didn't close the gap in their trust in one another soon.  
  
"So Tess, what's the weather for today?" Richie asked.  
  
"Drowned if you ask me, that storm didn't end until 4 in the morning," Tessa answered as she looked out the window.  
  
"Which reminds me," Richie said.  
  
"What is it?" Tessa turned around.  
  
"It's about time I get a shower, Mac goes down my throat if I wait more than 3 days, it's going on 5 this time," Richie explained.  
  
"Allright, I'll be there in a minute," Tessa said.  
  
"Whoa, wait a minute!" Richie replied, "Wait---you in-----now hooold on Tess, I may be legally blind and therefore pretty much helpless, but I'm going to die of embarrassment if you watch me."  
  
"I'm not going to be watching, I'm just going to be nearby incase you get hurt," Tessa said.  
  
"Tess, please! I begging you, leave me with what little privacy I have," Richie pleaded.  
  
"Allright, but let me get the razors out of there first, I don't want you cutting yourself," Tessa said as she headed into the bathroom.  
  
"Yes ma'am," Richie jokingly saluted.  
  
"You can put your arm down, soldier," Connor scoffed, "she left."  
  
"You sure?" Richie asked.  
  
"Of course, she's gone," Connor said.  
  
"Nice try," Tessa said as she re-entered the bedroom with three razors in her hand, "now Richie, are you sure you won't need any help?"  
  
"Tess, for crying out loud, yes I'm sure, if I need you to watch me while I shower, I'll die of embarrassment, now let me alone to my privacy so I can sulk in peace," Richie said, quickly losing his patience with her.  
  
Connor watched in awe as Tessa immediately stepped back as Richie snapped at her, then he headed into the bathroom and shut the door, Tessa let out a sigh of relief. Connor was shocked by the fact that it seemed Tessa was frightened by him.  
  
"Are you allright?" he asked.  
  
"Fine," Tessa gasped, "I'm fine---it's just-----after what happened, I think my nerves are shot."  
  
"Well yours certainly wouldn't be the first," Connor told her, "I think we've all had quite a shock from this."  
  
"But no doubt Richie is taking it the hardest," Tessa said, "it's no wonder he was so angry, first he had everyone upset at him, then worried about him, now he's got 2 people watching him, another who's scared to death to even talk to him, and we still don't know how we're going to handle this---but there are times---where it just-----it just seems that he's become another person----lately he's been scaring me."  
  
"Is that how he was the other day?" Connor asked.  
  
"In a way, Duncan was losing patience with Richie's short temper, and Richie was losing patience with Duncan," Tessa explained.  
  
"Teenagers are like that, their hormones are playing tricks on them, they think they know everything, and the last person they want to talk to just won't shut up, I know, I've been down that road a few times," Connor laughed.  
  
"Meantime, the way Duncan sees it, the one person he doesn't want to argue with can't agree with him to save his life," Tessa added.  
  
There was a long silence between the two, finally, Connor broke the silence, "At least they're talking---you don't know how much arguing, and feuding, and coping it took to get him to say even that much to Richie today."  
  
"And you don't know how much nagging it took to even have Richie willingly be anywhere near Duncan---they're both too stubborn for their own good, and they both have too much pride to admit it," Tessa said.  
  
"Yes and unfortunately, Duncan has had a few hundred more years with experience in it than the lad has," Connor said.  
  
"So what are we going to do about them?" Tessa asked, concern in her voice.  
  
"I wish I knew, I wish there was a way to just-----get the two of them to say more to each other than a few words at a time, but I'm afraid even after 474 years, I don't know how---I feel helpless."  
  
"I know," Tessa told him, "there must be some way to get them communicating again, but I'm afraid I'm at a loss of how."  
  
A few minutes later, Richie came out of the bathroom in a robe with a towel on his head and slowly made his way back into his room, "are you guys still here?" he asked.  
  
"How did you guess?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I just got the funny feeling someone was watching me, so---" Richie felt his way from the doorway over to Tessa and Connor. Then he went to his closet and pulled out some clean clothes, then he turned back to Tessa and Connor, "Could you give me a minute to get dressed?"  
  
"Of course," Tessa said as they left the room.  
  
Connor closed the door behind them, and made sure it was shut tight so it wouldn't pop open at an inopportune time for Richie.   
  
"What do we do?" Tessa asked.  
  
"There's nothing we can do, I don't think," Connor said, "we're just going to have to hope and pray that those two get this settled, I don't know how much more I can take of Duncan's worrying," Connor said.  
  
A few minutes later, the door opened and Richie came out in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.  
  
"Allright, I've been giving this a lot of thought, and there's something I'd like to discuss with you guys," Richie said, "I don't want you taking it personally or anything, it's just that I've made a decision about something."  
  
"He what?" Duncan asked.  
  
"He's asked for us to stop watching him at night," Tessa said, "I couldn't believe it myself when he said it."  
  
"I don't get it," Duncan said, "is there a problem?"  
  
"He just said that he's become embarrassed to have us watch him at night like a child," Tessa laughed, "and just like a child to ask for his independence from it----what do you think?"  
  
"Honestly? I don't know, what did he say?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I'll tell you what I said!" Richie called from the head of the stairs.  
  
Tessa looked up and saw Richie was standing near the edge of the stairs, too close for comfort, and she panicked.  
  
"Richie, stay where you are," Tessa said as she started up the stairs.  
  
"But Tess---"  
  
"Stay put," Tessa told him, "I don't want you getting hurt, and right now you're running a pretty good risk of falling 10 feet."  
  
Once Tessa reached the head of the stairs, she immediately grabbed Richie's wrist and led him downstairs, "If you have something to say, you say it where we are so we don't have to worry about you, now tell Duncan what you said."  
  
"Well," Richie turned to Duncan, "I figured you guys need to stop losing sleep over me, so I took a wrong turn and fell on the floor, you guys shouldn't have to stay up every night to make sure it doesn't happen again."  
  
"Richie, cut us some slack here," Duncan said, "we've only had to watch you one night so far---I think you should wait until at least the 3rd night to bring this up."  
  
"Boy aren't you humorous?" Connor asked, "Who's to even say he won't recover by the third night?"  
  
"Connor, let's face facts, this is the second day and I'm not seeing an improvement," Richie said.  
  
"Not now, no," Connor admitted, "but believe me Richie, you'll be surprised by what can happen between then and now."  
  
Richie was getting tired of hearing the same supportive lines he'd heard yesterday, not wanting to start an argument with anyone, he decided to end the discussion now.  
  
"Well, NOW I'm going back to my room to sulk, and THEN I'm going to sulk some more," Richie said.  
  
Richie broke loose of Tessa's grip and headed upstairs before anyone could protest, surprisingly enough, he made it with no trouble. As Duncan opened his mouth to say someting, they heard the door slam.  
  
"So," Connor said, "that's a typical dispute between you---I mean, once you cut out all the yelling that takes place."  
  
"It's not funny, Connor," Duncan told him.  
  
"No, you're right, it's not funny, it's getting worse with the lad, and it's going to continue getting worse until you two finally manage to fully communicate with each other, without tussling over who's at blame," Connor told him.  
  
Richie had spent endless hours that day trying to convince them to leave him alone that night, he begged Tessa to let him have a night of privacy, so he could sulk without them watching. They finally agreed, only under the agreement if he needed anything he'd yell for them. Richie agreed, and was thrilled about having a night to himself, but Richie soon came to regret his decision. He was having more trouble than usual with falling asleep, maybe it was because he didn't have someone watching him tonight, or maybe it was the fact that it was incredibly hot and he had no way of cooling off. He couldn't figure out what it was, he just knew he couldn't sleep even though he was exhausted. He didn't know when it was, but he finally fell asleep, unfortunately it didn't last for long, he kept going in and out of a peaceful sleep.  
  
Man, he thought, I wish I knew what time it was.  
  
It was then that the boy got an idea, over on his nightstand was a clock that had to be set just by turning the hands for the right time, it was protected by a plastic dome that could easily be removed. Duncan had let Richie use it after he had an accident with his last clock which broke it, Richie felt over to his nightstand until he felt the clock, and slowly removed the dome and put it down gently, then he ran his thumb and forefinger across the hands, just lightly enough so he would know their place on the clock. The large hand was on the 7 and the small hand was on the 1.  
  
One thirty-five in the morning, Richie said to himself, man, I have to try to get some sleep and apparently I'll have to try harder than this.  
  
Richie turned over onto his stomach and buried his face in his pillow, trying to get to sleep, but he soon found it was useless. He couldn't sleep no matter what he did. It was then that he realized why he couldn't sleep, he couldn't sleep because he wasn't comfortable. Richie moved into a few different positions hoping he would be able to fall asleep, but it didn't work, after tossing and turning a few times, he finally fell asleep.  
  
"Well Richie, how did you sleep last night?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Like a bump on a log," Richie said, "although, I had a little trouble getting out of bed this morning, I took a wrong turn and fell out of bed and hit my mouth on the floor."  
  
"Well, you should've called for one of us," Duncan laughed, "we would've been more than happy to help."  
  
"I know, Mac, I know," the lad replied, "it's just that I hate---knowing you guys are doing so much to help me when I can hardly even help myself, letalone you in return."  
  
"Richie, you don't need to worry about us, we've already gone over this, we're here to help you until you can see again, and you don't need to worry about repaying us," Duncan said.  
  
Richie bit his lip and thought for a few seconds, he decided now was as good a time as any to tell the Immortal the truth.  
  
But as he opened his mouth, the fear only grew large in Richie, petrifying him as he barely managed to get out, "-----Mac----"  
  
"Yeah, Richie?" Duncan asked.  
  
Richie decided it was too late to go back, so he just came out saying, "I have a confession to make-----I'm not really blind--anymore-----I woke up today and could see again---I just---I just didn't know when to tell you."  
  
Duncan slowly turned around and stared at Richie with a shocked glare.  
  
"Mac," Richie said, "I can see again."  
  
"You can?" Duncan asked, still in shock.  
  
"Yeah, isn't that great?" Richie asked.  
  
"It's amazing!" Duncan said, letting his optimism show.  
  
"Yeah, now I can---" Richie got cut off as the great news turned into a tragedy when Dunca grabbed him and threw him on the floor.  
  
Quickly getting up, hoping to protect himself, Richie jumped back from where he was standing and said, "Mac, what the hell is the matter with you?"  
  
He stood petrified as he saw Duncan grab a large knife with a recently sharpened blade, Richie turned to run, but Duncan caught him and threw him against the wall. Richie, now bleeding and fearing for his life, was frozen in fear as Duncan shifted the blade towards him. Now he knew there was no way to escape, Richie closed his eyes tightly as he didn't want to see that the Highlander had started to cut into his skin. A gasping scream escaped his lips as he forced his eyes open, only to find himself surrounded by darkness.  
  
Richie let out a sigh of relief in between the gasps impacted from the shock of the nightmare he'd just had. He never would've said it, but now for once, he was glad he was blind, proving the horrifying image he had just witnessed was just a dream.  
  
"Thank God," Richie quietly said to himself.  
  
But relief soon turned to fear again when Richie felt a weight pressed on his chest, near his heart. Richie had had this weight against him before, it was the base of a knife! The worst part of it was he was still blind, so he couldn't see what was going on. He didn't know if someone had broken in and was watching him, waiting for the right minute to kill him. Fearing for his life, Richie called out, but the name that submerged from his voice shocked even himself as he called, "MAAAAAC!"  
  
Richie knew if there was someone in the room, by now they'd try and kill him, he was a bit relieved when he heard the door open and the lights come on, and heard a firm voice filled with concern, "Richie, are you allright?"  
  
"Mac!" the lad repeated, "Mac, what's on my chest? What is it?"  
  
Richie felt the weight lifted off his chest and felt relieved, then he heard the Highlander replied, "It's your pocket knife, how it got on your chest, I can't figure out."  
  
"Am I bleeding?" Richie asked, still panicked by his inability to see.  
  
"No, you're not bleeding, but we still better make sure you're not hurt," Duncan sat next to Richie's body, took the lad in his arms and started to lift him up from the chest up.  
  
Richie immediately made it clear that he still had some trust issues with Duncan as he started kicking and screaming, "Don't pick me up! Put me down! Put me down!"  
  
Duncan, worried he might have hurt Richie, quickly laid him back down, the lad turned over and buried his face in the pillows and started murmuring something to himself.  
  
"Richie, I'm terribly sorry," Duncan apologized, "did I hurt you?  
  
"No," came the muffled sob from the pillows.  
  
Duncan was concerned by what he had just heard and gently turned the lad around to facing him, the look on his face was a mixture of hurt and embarrassment as he continued to sob, his cheeks already wet and stained.  
  
"Oh Richie---" Duncan took the boy in his arms as Richie buried his face in Duncan's shoulder.  
  
Right now, he was breathing so heavily in between sobs, Duncan thought it wouldn't be long until he started hyperventilating. Duncan cupped Richie's chin in his hand and brought his face up for Duncan to look at him.  
  
"Calm down, Richie, calm down-----what's the matter?" Duncan asked as he held the boy closer and lightly patted his back.  
  
"I'm sorry," Richie gasped, "it's just----I had----and then you-----I just---" Richie quickly lost patience with his vulnerability and snapped, "dammit! What's wrong with me? I can't even say it!"  
  
"Calm down, Richie, don't rush yourself, it's allright, it's allright, I'm here now, you're going to be allright."  
  
Duncan was surprised and a bit shocked when Richie threw his arms around Duncan's back, gripping hard as if he was holding on to him for dear life. After a few minutes, Duncan felt relieved when Richie started to calm down and his breathing returned to normal. Finally, Duncan had to ask, "can you tell me what's wrong?"  
  
"I had a nightmare---I'm sorry," Richie said.  
  
"What about?" Duncan asked, hoping he could be of help to the boy.  
  
"I don't think I can say, I don't want you to take it personally," Richie replied.  
  
"Richie, I only want to help you, now please---tell me what's wrong," Duncan said.  
  
"I----I dreamt that I got my sight back, and when I did, you---tried to---you tried to kill me," Richie admitted.  
  
Duncan let go of Richie and watched as the boy turned away, obviously at the fear of being struck for what he'd said, but Duncan was in shock by what he'd just heard.  
  
"I tried---to kill you?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Yeah," Richie replied, "or maybe rape, one or the other, I don't know, maybe both."  
  
"Richie-----my God, I don't know where this idea came from----Richie------do I frighten you when I'm around?" Duncan asked.  
  
Richie kept his head turned away and had an emotionless glare in his eyes.  
  
"Oh Richie---" Duncan had plenty of years of experience to read the signs when it came to trouble with a teenager. "Richie, I'm sorry if I've made you feel uneasy around here---tell me, how long as this been happening?"  
  
"I don't know anymore," Richie snapped, "ever since I moved in I guess----but at first, it wasn't this bad, at first I was just scared of you because I didn't know you but I knew what you do. Over the weeks, it got easier because I got to know you, but now---I don't know Mac, I'm scared, and I don't know what I'm going to do with my life, I can't do anything for myself, I got nowhere else to go, and nobody even wants me."  
  
"Don't say that!" Duncan raised his voice to the boy, "Richie, we love you, I love you, Tessa loves you, even Connor does----Connor's crazy about you, he'd take you to live with him if I'd let him."  
  
"Really?" Duncan heard a shred of hope in the boy's tone.  
  
"Yes, Richie, you're going to stay with us," Duncan told him.  
  
"That's good to know," Richie murmured.  
  
Duncan could easily tell a large burden had been lifted off the lad's shoulders, it was a lot more obvious than he was willing to let on, but Duncan didn't care. He was just glad that they got this out in the open, and he was able to be of help to the boy. Finally, Richie turned to him and asked him, "what time is it?"  
  
"3:00 A.M.," Duncan answered.  
  
"Well, I guess I'm lucky that you were up here, tonight," Richie said.  
  
"Richie---"  
  
"I know, Mac, I know, I should've had you guys watching me tonight, none of this would happened, but I begged you guys to leave me alone, so here we are, Tessa told me it was too soon, but I didn't listen, so go ahead, just say it, say "I told you so"-----"  
  
"I wasn't going to say that, Richie," Duncan assured the lad.  
  
"No?" Richie asked, vexed by Duncan's response, "then what were you going to say?"  
  
He heard Duncan take in a deep breath before saying, "do you need me to stay here now?"  
  
Half of Richie was saying no, he didn't want to cause Duncan anymore trouble than he had, but he knew the truth of the matter was he needed him now more than ever, so he said, "Yes."  
  
"Allright," Duncan responded, "let's get you back into bed."  
  
Before Richie could respond, he felt Duncan pick him up in his arms, lay him down in bed and bring the sheets up to his chest, and then he heard him ask, "better?"  
  
"Yeah," Richie groaned as he turned over in bed, "thanks, Mac."  
  
"I'm going to see if Tessa woke up, and then I'll be back for the rest of the night," Duncan told him.  
  
Ducan went over to his bedroom and saw Tessa sitting up in bed, and Connor standing by the window, "Nice to see you two are talking again," he said.  
  
Duncan was alarmed by what he had heard, if Connor had planted Richie's knife on his chest without realizing the possibilities---  
  
"You?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Of course not, I would never put the lad's life in jeopardy, I know better, but I'm glad you two are talking," Connor told him.  
  
"Then----how did his knife end up on his chest?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Maybe the lad was sleepwalking and picked it up," Connor said, "I've seen people who when they feel helpless, see something like that as protection---could be subconsciously that our young friend saw the same thing in his knife."  
  
"Protection? From what?"   
  
"From anything, right now he's blind and has no idea what's going on in his surroundings, so, should he find himself alone and in trouble with someone, I think it's obvious what he's going to rely on," Connor said.  
  
Duncan went back to Richie's room and found him sound asleep. He grinned to himself, he was glad they had ended the feud between them and now he was able to speak to the lad again without another confrontation. Duncan looked over at Richie's nightstand and saw the knife resting next to the clock. Duncan picked up the knife and put it in the bottom drawer of Richie's dresser, and murmured, "You won't be needing that."  
  
Duncan then took his chair to the side of the bed and sat beside Richie, watching him sleep. He had an angelic look on his face as he seemed to be resting peacefully. Duncan hoped that an improvement in Richie's condition would be made soon. 


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I would like to apologize for the severely long wait in this final chapter. I have gone through several ideas for how I think this story should end and have found what I believe to be the best choice. Maybe it is and maybe it isn't, only the reviews will tell. I also realize that staying away from this project for so long will most likely result in having the characters in this story written well out of character, so I am prepared for any and every flame reviews that you readers may send. All the same I do hope you enjoy.

Duncan watched Richie as he slept, it must've brought him some comfort when he slept, then he didn't have to worry about not being able to see. Duncan could only imagine how bad Richie felt having to go through every day relying on their help, no matter how much progress he was making. Duncan still hadn't let himself forget that he was the cause for the accident in the first place, and Richie knew that as well as he did, even if he didn't admit it.

That in mind, Duncan was shocked when Richie called for him instead of Connor or Tessa when he woke up. He couldn't imagine how scared Richie must have been, he must have been scared for his life, to call for him. There was nothing Duncan knew from personal experience when it came to being blind, but he'd heard an old friend tell him that one of the worst things about blindness was that never-ending feeling of being alone. He'd told him, 'you only can understand how bad it is, when you're the one with the problem, and you can't explain how great the pain is, it's a pain that doesn't end until death comes.'

Duncan knew Richie had been on his own pretty much for most of his life, his foster parents didn't care about him, the social workers didn't care about him, and now it seemed his own patience with the lad was fading. At least that must have been the way Richie saw it. But Duncan wasn't going to let Richie slip away from him, he couldn't, not while he was blind, and not when he recovered.

Duncan's thoughts were interrupted when Richie quietly said, "Mac…Mac?"

"What is it, Richie?"

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Four in the morning."

Richie hadn't opened his eyes, so when Duncan answered him, he just lowered his head onto the pillow and turned on his side.

"Richie," Duncan said suddenly.

"Yeah?" Richie asked as he opened his eyes.

"Are you angry with me?"

"What?" Richie asked as he sat up.

"Are you angry with me?" he repeated.

"Meanhow could I be angry with you? Na, Mac, I'm not angry with you," Richie said as he laid back down again.

Of course he's not angry with you, Duncan thought to himself, he's just afeared of you.

Duncan noticed Richie wasn't saying anything, but his eyes were wide open as he laid on the bed.

"Is something wrong?" Duncan asked after a few minutes, "You're awfully quiet since you're awake."

"Not really," Richie sighed, "it's just that it's times like these, I realize it doesn't matter how many people I'm surrounded by, I'm…on my own."

"But you're not alone, Richie, I'm here, and so is Tessa and Connor."

"I don't mean that, I mean being blind, you've never gone through it, so you wouldn't know what it's like," Richie told him, "being trapped in the dark, with no way to get out, and I don't even know **if** I'm going to come out of it."

"Don't say that," Duncan said, "you're going to get better, you have to believe that."

"I've been believing it and it's gotten me nowhere, Mac…what if this is the way it's going to be from now on? What if I never recover?"

"You will, but you have to rest and you have to have patience with yourself…go back to sleep…I'll be here when you wake up."

Richie shook his head in agreement and closed his eyes.

Richie felt miserable, it was more than just miserable, he felt cold. Cold and alone, he would've sworn he was dead, but he knew that was too easy. That however offered little comfort to the fact that he felt he was having an outer-body experience. He was seeing again everything from his life that his memory held. Everything that he'd ever said, done, or felt, he was reliving the pain and the anger and the guilt and the sorrow. In the same instant, he knew he was dreaming, but nevertheless it all seemed too real.

He knew he was dreaming, he was still blind so the only way he could see this would be if he was dreaming. That didn't change anything for him though, he couldn't wake up, it was all too real, the pain seemed to cut right through him. Everything that had happened in his life so far, everyone who had let him down, everyone he'd let down, and there was nothing that could be done to put an end to it. He felt completely helpless, unable to do anything that could change what he was going through.

Richie felt a cold rain wash over him, each drop felt like he was being hit with ice. Richie watched helplessly as he relived a lifetime of betrayal, heartbreak, fear, vulnerability, and complete helplessness. As horrible as he felt now, he knew it was only going to be worse when he woke up, because then he truly was helpless.

He didn't know how much time had passed from then, but the next thing he realized was he'd curled into a fetal ball and was crying. All the while he could've sworn he heard something…someone…speaking in a calm, soothing voice.

"Richie…"

Richie felt shivers go down his spine, he recognized that voice, he remembered.

"Richie…"

He felt his face go pale as he felt a gentle hand smooth his bangs back on his forehead.

"Richie…what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Richie felt every part of his body shake, he choked on a sob as he tried to speak, he could barely get his voice to surface, "M—Mom?"

"That's right dear…I'm here now…tell me what's the matter?"

Richie swallowed and tried to find something to say, "Mom, I don't want to go through with this, I don't want to be alone."

Tears rolled down Richie's face as he felt her take his hand in hers and gently squeeze it, "You're not alone, Richie, I know, I saw the family you moved in with, they seem like nice people."

"I sure thought so."

"Richie…too many years already I haven't been able to see you, and that hurts me."

Richie felt a wave of guilt wash over him. "I'm sorry, Mom."

"I can only see you when good things are happening, and I was finally able to get a long good look at you when you moved in with Duncan MacLeod and Tessa Noel. They care about you now, Richie, they love you, and in a way that I can't right now. Do me a favor and give them another chance, I do believe they love you as their own, and I want to see you from here on out."

Richie flattened out on his back as tears continued to run down his cheeks, "What's it like where you are, Mom?"

"It's beautiful, lots of nice people, I never have to worry about arthritis or cancer or a bad heart, and I never have to worry about being caught in a downpour."

Richie laughed briefly, but it did little to stop his pain.

"The one thing that I don't like is I've gone so long, not able to see you, when you grew up into a fine young man, when you learned everything that you needed to know. Now I have that chance."

"I see," Richie said, "but Mom, I don't think I can do it."

"Do what?"

"I just don't see the point in continuing with my life if all I see is pain."

"It hurts because you're alive, Richie. Everybody sees pain in their time. But you hang in there, and don't worry, one day you'll come see me, but for the time being you have to make the most of the time you have. You'd be surprised how quickly it goes."

"That's going to be pretty hard for me, Mom," Richie said, "I'm blind."

"That's impossible."

"No it's not, I was in an accident a few days ago and I'm blind."

"What happened?"

"The doctor says when I fell and hit my head, it bruised the vision section of my brain."

"You mean back here?"

Richie felt her hand stroke the back of his head in a comforting rhythm.

"Richie…"

"Mom?"

"I love you…I want you to remember that."

"Mom."

"Don't worry, Richie…you're not going to be alone."

"What?"

"I'll always be with you…my baby."

Richie woke up and expected to see Emily beside him, but he sadly realized it had in fact, just been a dream. At least he thought so, before lowering his head onto the pillow and realizing it was damp. Damp with his tears. He'd been crying evidently for some time, his eyes hurt, he could almost feel them where they would be red. The realization of being alone made the pain surface and he felt like crying again. Then Richie remembered that Duncan had stayed in the room with him all night. But he knew that Duncan was gone because there was no one to wake him up from his nightmare. Richie threw back his covers and stood up beside the bed and called, "Mac! Mac!"

Duncan came rushing in the room and before he could stop he ran into Richie and they both fell down on the bed. Duncan rolled off of Richie and took the lad in his arms. "Richie, I'm sorry, are you allright?"

"Yeah Mac, don't worry…you didn't hurt me," Richie assured him. "I'm allright."

"Thank God…wait…what's wrong? Are you okay?" Duncan held Richie's face in his hands, dreading what the lad would say next.

"Mac, I gotta talk to you," Richie said.

"Did you hear us?" Duncan asked.

"What?" Richie asked.

"You mean you didn't?"

"No…what's going on?" Richie asked.

Richie felt a wave of panic rush through him when Duncan's hands let go of his face and Duncan pulled away. Duncan stood up over by his dresser.

"Well Connor and Tessa and I have been having a little…'conversation' for lack of a better word."

"About what?" Richie asked, half-regretting the response.

"About who you should live with," Duncan's answer was short and to the point.

Oh God, Richie thought to himself, Not again…

"Connor thinks you should move to New York with him, Tessa and I believe you'd be better off with us," Duncan said.

"What?" Richie asked.

"What?"

"That's what you're arguing about?" Richie asked, "Which of you I'm going to live with?"

"Well of course, we…oh Richie," Duncan's voice suddenly became concerned and soothing at the same time. "Did ye' think we'd be getting rid of ye, laddie?"

"It crossed my mind a few times," Richie admitted, feeling ashamed of himself for even saying it.

Richie felt one of Duncan's hands slip behind his head as the other found its way to his back and pulled him close to the Highlander. "Richie, we'd never do that to you…we had an agreement when you moved in, you're going to stay with us until you're ready to leave…and we wouldn't change our minds about that, not now, not ever."

Richie felt an unfamiliar sense of security when Duncan said that. He grabbed onto Duncan's upper arms and said, "Thanks Mac…I'm glad to hear that."

"But Richie." Richie felt Duncan loosen his grip on him and worried this was taking a turn for the worse, "We're not going to force you to stay here if you don't want to. The choice is yours if you want to live with us, or move with Connor to New York."

"But…M-Mac," Richie said worriedly, as a tear rolled down his face.

"I'm not talking about right now, Richie," Duncan said as he brushed the tear away with his thumb, "…I mean once you get your vision back and you are able to take care of yourself…we're not going to force you either way, it's whatever you want to do."

"Mac, please don't make me do this," Richie begged, "I can't do it."

"Do what?"

"You're telling me I have to pick whether I want to live with you or Connor…I can't do that, no matter who I pick, no matter what you'd say, the person I don't pick would get upset and be mad at me."

"No we wouldn't," Duncan assured him, "yes we're fighting about it now, but that's just because we all love you and want you with us…It doesn't matter what you're going to tell us because we just want what's best for you, and only you can decide that."

"Mac…" Richie said as tears started rolling down his cheeks, "I have to tell you something."

"I don't care what you say, Connor," Tessa said as she and Connor continued their 'debate' for the second hour, "Richie is going to stay with us. He's safer with us."

"He was staying here with you and look what happened," Connor said, "now he's blind as a bat."

"Damn you Connor MacLeod!" Tessa exclaimed, "Don't you even think about going there! I don't like what's happened to Richie but it could've happened just as easily if he were with you."

"Oh yeah?" Connor asked, "Well at least I wouldn't have driven him out of the house in a blind rage!"

"Duncan didn't drive him out!" Tessa protested.

"The hell he didn't," Connor replied, "I know you love Duncan and you've known him for 12 years so you think you know all about him that you think you need to, but…"

"I know, I know, you've known him for three hundred years," Tessa snapped.

"Give or take a few decades," Connor replied.

There was a brief silence between them, it was broken off when there was a knock at the door, Duncan and Richie stood in the doorway to the bedroom. "Do you two mind if we come in?" Duncan asked.

"No," they answered.

"Come on in," Connor added.

Richie seemed a bit resistant to go in, but Duncan kept a hand on Richie's shoulder as if assuring him. Richie still seemed a bit scared to move, so Duncan nudged him to let him know it was allright, and Richie slowly entered the bedroom.

"Good morning, petit, how are you doing today?" Tessa asked.

"Actually Tess," Richie said as he stopped in the middle of the room, "I have something to say…"

"What is it, laddie?" Connor asked.

"Well…" Richie started, nervously, "first of all I'd like to apologize for all the trouble I've caused everybody."

Everyone started their protests of how he'd been no trouble at all, when he cut them off.

"I know this hasn't been easy for anyone to get through, especially me, but I'm sorry for putting the rest of you through this as well."

"Richie, it's not your fault this happened," Connor said.

"I know, Connor," Richie said, "and it's not Mac's fault either."

The look that formed on Connor's face indicated that he didn't know what to make of what Richie just said.

"Also…I know that everybody's been disagreeing about who I should live with, Connor, you want me to go New York and live with you because you think I'd be safer there than here with Mac and Tess…who I've been living with for over a month, and…this is the first real bad thing that's happened to me since I moved in…and you all know what I'm capable of getting into, so it's a miracle that something hasn't happened before now."

"So what are you saying, Richie?" Connor asked.

"I…I…" Richie bit his lower lip a couple of times before he answered, "I'm sorry Connor…but I can't go with you."

For a minute, there was silence between them all, Duncan and Tessa weren't sure what would happen next. Finally Connor replied, "It's allright, laddie…I understand."

"I mean…don't get me wrong, it'd probably be great living with you but…" Richie said, "it's hard to explain, but…since I moved in, you guys have become my family, but…Mac and Tess, they're my immediate family…I mean Tess…I don't even remember what my foster mother was alike a whole lot, but next to her you're the most wonderful woman I've ever known…"

"Oh Richie," Tessa blushed.

"And Mac…I…I…I never really had it good with any of my foster fathers…so living with you has really been a change of events…so…thanks for everything," Richie said.

"Well Richie, I'm glad to have you here," Duncan told him.

"I know…I just…hope everybody understands what I'm trying to say…it's not that I like either one of you guys here more or less than the other, it's just that you're both different, you both live on opposite sides of the country, you'd both have a lot for me to adapt to if I were living with the other and suddenly had to live with the next."

"It's allright, Richie," Duncan said, "we understand."

"Richie, are you allright?" Tessa asked as she walked up to him.

"Yeah Tess, I think so."

"That's good," Tessa said as she hugged Richie and murmured something in French to herself.

Richie put his arms around Tessa to return the embrace when he got poked in the chest by the sharp body of a charm on Tessa's necklace. Richie held the charm between two fingers and whistled, "Tess, that's a nice necklace, where'd you get that?"

"Well Richie, Duncan gave it to me for…Richie! You can see?"

"Yeah," Richie admitted, "Connor, I know you told me you'd be staying until I could see again, so I guess this means you're packing."

"It'll be good going back knowing you're allright, laddie," Connor said. "Although if you'd prefer it, I could stay here a bit longer."

"That would be great."

"Richie, this is great!" Tessa exclaimed, "Were you just now able to see?"

"No, actually it happened when I woke up…I wanted to surprise you…"

"Well we certainly are," Tessa said as she took Richie in another embrace, "Richie, this is wonderful! You can see again!"

"Yep, and I have to say I missed it," Richie said, "ugly as some things are."

Connor extended his stay for another two weeks and he and Duncan and Richie had a good time. They went to ballgames and to the fights and to some violent movies that Tessa preferred to stay home during. When they stayed at home, Connor told Richie many embarrassing stories from when he and Duncan first became teacher and student, and when he wasn't doing that, he was teaching Richie how to play a few card games Duncan wasn't and hadn't been familiar with for a few decades (and more importantly teaching Richie how to cheat in them). Finally it came to the final day when Connor was packed up and had to leave for the airport. Duncan and Connor said their goodbyes and drew each other in a final embrace while Richie watched them from the corner of the room.

"Keep an eye on him," Connor told Duncan, "you've got a good kid, don't lose him."

"I won't."

Both the men kept their voices down so Richie wouldn't hear them.

"How about you, laddie?" Connor asked when he and Duncan separated.

Richie looked down at the floor and turned a bit red in the face.

"Oh come on," Connor said, "don't be getting embarrassed to give an ancient man a hug goodbye."

Richie finally gave in and went over to Connor as he held the lad close for a minute, Richie felt a bit awkward by it, knowing that Duncan was watching him.

"Now you behave while I'm in New York, and don't give Duncan a hard time," Connor told him.

"I know."

Connor drew him closer and murmured in Richie's ear, "And remember what I told you about cutting the cards."

Richie smiled as he remembered what Connor had taught him when it came to playing crooked. As they pulled away from one another, Richie said, "Connor…in a couple of weeks, do you think I could…come visit you?"

Connor looked at Richie for a brief while not saying a word, Richie was worried he'd put his foot in his mouth. Duncan looked at Connor, awaiting his decision. Connor reached over to Richie and ruffled his hair, "I'd like that, laddie."

Connor picked up his bags and headed for the door. "Richie, would you like to come with us to the airport?" Duncan asked.

"No."

"Okay," Duncan said, "Tell Tessa we said goodbye."

"I will."

Duncan followed Connor out the door and closed the door behind him.

Connor had left for New York hours ago, it was dark now, in fact it was after midnight. Duncan was in bed beside Tessa, but he wasn't having as good a luck as she was with sleeping. So he turned on his side, that didn't help, so he rolled onto his stomach, that still didn't work. Finally he decided to get up and do something until he was tired. He got out of bed and slipped on his robe and quietly made his way out of the bedroom so not to disturb Tessa, and across to the kitchen where he saw Richie at the table fixing himself a sandwich.

"Couldn't sleep?" Duncan asked.

"Not really," Richie replied.

Richie finished adding layer upon layer of God-knew-what and put another piece of bread on top of his sandwich, but it was too tall to eat, so he flattened it down with his fist a few times. Duncan smiled to himself as he headed over to the fridge, it was good to have Richie back to his regular old self.

"Mac…" Richie said after a minute of hesitation.

"Yes?"

"Can I…tell you something?"

Duncan knew by his uneasiness that Richie wouldn't even be bringing up whatever it was unless he felt sure that Duncan wouldn't give him a hard time about it.

"Sure," he replied as he sat down at the table, "what's up?"

"Well…I…I want you to know that I'm glad that you're still letting me stay with you, after everything that's happened," Richie said.

"That's what family's for," Duncan said.

"Anyway…" Richie said, looking down and then back at Duncan, "Mac…it was horrible after Emily died. I stayed in so many foster homes and orphanages that I didn't think I'd ever get out…I don't know what I did, but nobody really ever wanted me…unless they were just looking for some random kid to get a foster check off of them…All my life I'd been rejected by all sorts of people, I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. One day I just figured that no matter what, nobody would want me. When you took me in, I didn't think I'd be staying here too long…I felt like I was walking on eggshells, just waiting for it to happen. Just counting the days until I did whatever I did…that would make you want to get rid of me…and I thought last month when you…"

"Oh God…that's what you thought?" Duncan asked, "That I wanted to send you back?"

"It sure seemed that way to me," Richie said, "I knew I had to get out, but I couldn't just pick up my things and leave, not then anyway. I figured if I stuck around, we'd get into it, so I figured I'd take off for a while, until I was calmed down enough to stand coming back here and getting my things. But I didn't get that chance."

"This all could have been avoided if I didn't lose my temper at you," Duncan said, "Richie, I'm so sorry…I'll never forgive myself for letting this happen to you in the first place."

"It's not your fault, Mac," Richie said, "I was just careless."

"But you wouldn't have left if I hadn't said what I had," Duncan said.

"Maybe not," Richie admitted, "but who's to say it couldn't have happened if I'd just gotten distracted for a second anyway?"

"Oh God, what I said," Duncan said, "I can't imagine how you must've felt."

"Mac…when you said I was unappreciative and irresponsible, it hurt me, but at the same time it was a relief because I knew that the time had finally come that I knew I had to leave," Richie said.

"I'm sorry…why did I even say that?" Duncan asked himself.

"Because you didn't think it'd have any effect on me," Richie said, "I know it's not your fault and you're not used to having someone young around…you couldn't have known what would happen."

"But I should have…"

"But you didn't, what's happened is over, it's allright," Richie said.

"No it's not…" Duncan said, "you've been scared of me since the day we met, and still you were when you first moved in, that's not allright…and it's my fault that you were in that accident, because I was being an ass the entire time."

"Well what was I?" Richie asked.

"You were just being yourself," Duncan said, "you knew that it was getting close the breaking point when you'd decide you had to leave…maybe you knew that day was the day it was going to happen."

"So what're you saying?" Richie asked, "You really don't want me?"

"No, Richie, that's not it, we do want you," Duncan assured him, "but I think it could be that you knew that something was going to happen that day."

"It's possible," Richie said.

"But Richie…I truly am sorry for everything that's happened," Duncan told him.

"I know, Mac."

"And I want you to know that no matter what you do…I love you and I'd never try to get rid of you…and I'm never going to lose my temper at you like that again."

"I know," Richie said calmly.

"Richie, I was worried after we found out that you were blind. I wasn't sure you were going to be allright, I wasn't sure you were ever going to recover…the fact that I knew you wouldn't talk to me was one of the furthest things on my mind, but that still worried me too…I wanted you to get better, and I'm glad that now you are…I don't want you to have to go through that again."

"I know," Richie said. "And Mac…I really do want to stay here, because living with you is the best thing that's happened to me in a long time, and…I believe that my motherEmily…can see me from where she is…but only when something good's happening."

"Maybe she does," Duncan said.

There was a brief silence between them, neither said anything for a while, finally Duncan decided to break the silence.

"So…are you allright?"

"I think so…I'm still not tired…but I haven't been lately."

"So you won't be heading back to bed anytime soon," Duncan said.

"No."

"Me either," Duncan said, "…what do you want to do?"

"Do you want to play cards?" Richie asked, looking a bit eager.

A/N: Like it or hate it, this is not THE end of "Leading the Blind". I am doing another version, a bit more humorous version at the request of a friend. To anyone who will be reading that version when it is published on here, I hope you enjoy.


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